


Teddy Bear

by Colamiilk



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: 3 point interaction study, A piercing almost gets ripped out but doesn't, Giriko POV, I'm bad at it but I tried aha, It's kinda the whole point of the story, Justin being a major pain in the ass, M/M, Minor descriptions of hospitalization, Redemption AU 2, Somethings that can be read as Tezca/Justin but weren't intended that way, Tezca's mask is a thing, mangaverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 01:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20685062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colamiilk/pseuds/Colamiilk
Summary: “Take it off! Why is it even now you're still wearing it!? Can’t you take anything seriously?”Justin decides Tezca has been wearing his mask for long enough.





	Teddy Bear

**Author's Note:**

> Ok. Two things you need to know about this fic:   
1) This was originally part of a much much longer fic that I don't plan on posting; this is an excerpt I edited to make sense on its own however it still might come across shaky.   
2) I spent literal weeks trying to get this to make sense out of context and it was making me rip out my hair so... I tried.

The walk back to the infirmary room where Justin was being kept was slow and horrible. Giriko couldn’t decide if he wanted to drag it out to try and get all his frustration out of the way before he got there or if he wanted to rush back and try to ignore everything that had just happened. He was leaning toward ‘ignore everything’. After all, it was much easier to go and do that than to actually deal with all the problems he had just been saddled with. It was a good plan… and it was only further cemented as what he should do next when he heard a very sudden and loud crash come from the guillotine’s room.

Giriko was running before he could even process that as something he wanted to do. His mind was racing with all the possibilities of what could be happening. Justin had only been up for a few days, had only just started recovering from his self imploding madness and getting his grip on reality back. He had been doing amazingly considering that when they were first reunited he hadn’t been much more than a limp corpse, but he was still on what was essentially life support. Any loud noise coming from there couldn’t be fucking good news. 

When he finally managed to get down the annoyingly long hallway and fling open the door Giriko expected to see that something horrible had happened. He suspected to see something more than just bad. So with that eating at his mind and telling him Justin was fucking comatose again or possibly even dead, he really should’ve been well prepared for  _ whatever  _ could be waiting for him. Actually, no. He had to take that back. No one could be prepared to see this bullshit. 

“Take it off! Why is it even now you're still wearing it!? Can’t you take anything seriously?” Justin’s voice was so unbelievably pissed off and loud in a way Giriko had never heard before, in a way a sick person shouldn’t have even been able to manage without breaking off into a horrid coughing fit. The noise Tezca was making in response wasn’t much more dignified. In fact, it was far worse than Justin’s lapse in composure. A full grown man should’ve never sounded this much like a shrieking little girl.

Whatever was happening was sheer chaos, so much so that it took Giriko a full minute to figure out that the mess of limbs in front of him was Justin trying to rip Tezca’s giant teddy bear head off with a vengeance. It seemed to be more than just a vengeance honestly. It was fucking  _ amazing  _ how hard Justin was trying to get it off. He had one of his feet curled against Tezca’s shoulder and was trying to use the bastard’s own body as a springboard to yank the mask off with. It was clear that the brat wasn’t going to stop until he managed to get what he wanted out of this. Giriko wasn’t sure if he should be impressed or concerned with the amount of sheer dedication. 

“I do! I do with my mask on! Let it go!” Tezca was desperate, he had grabbed onto Justin’s ankle and one of the brat’s wrists, trying to yank the kid off of him without also losing his mask. Part of Giriko wanted to help him, more for the sake of making sure Justin didn’t reopen his wounds than actually caring about this sorry fuck’s plight. But another, louder part of him wanted to wait and see the mask get ripped off. He wanted to see what was underneath almost a fraction as much as Justin did.

Justin’s arms got tighter around the mask, tight enough that the fabric started to bend inward and show generally where the man’s head was inside. Tezca made an indignant squawking noise, trying to smack Justin off one last time before the guillotine rammed his foot directly into the bastard’s windpipe and finally dislodged the mask. Tezca coughed and gagged as he went stumbling back, grabbing at his throat, but that wasn’t what Giriko was worried about. He was too busy being horrified that Justin had gone flying back and hit the hospital bed hard enough that it slammed into the wall with an awful noise. 

Both him and Tezca froze up. The IV and the other various cords connected to Justin that Giriko couldn’t identify all rattled for a moment, daring to come loose and make this situation so much worse than it already was. They were so fucking dead. Giriko hadn’t even done anything for once but he was going to be killed all the same. There’d be no convincing anyone that Justin had been the one to fuck himself up here. 

Thankfully the moment of gut wrenching horror that came with thinking Justin had brained himself or worsened one of his life threatening injuries ended quickly. The brat bounced back almost immediately, seemingly unhurt and clutching the teddy bear head as his prize. For Giriko that ended his fear entirely. But for Tezca… Well.

Justin’s glare was anything but friendly right now, and it kept getting worse with every passing second. He was protectively settling himself around the head, curling around it and clinging onto it tight enough that his knuckles were going white, promising Tezca that he wasn’t going to get his mask back anytime soon. Giriko looked over to the man in what was originally going to be a bit of pity, but once he saw what Justin was looking at with such a fury his expression started to mirror that.

“I fucking hate you so much.” Justin wasn’t one to be so venomous and blatantly hateful, but god if Giriko didn’t agree with that sentiment right now. Tezca had stood up to his full height again, readjusting the  _ second  _ fucking bear head he had been wearing underneath. The guy was acting like it was no big deal, going back to his normal relaxed slouch and showing no signs of anything but exasperation. Infuriatingly composed. 

Giriko had always thought Justin was blind to how ridiculous he was with his holy nonsense and booming headphones, but this guy was on a completely different level. He was far too committed to that mask and he didn’t even seem to realize how fucking weird he was being with this shit. Maybe there was a reason Justin and him had been friends before all of this. Maybe their weird, kind of forced from what limited things Justin had said, friendship had come from bonding over their habits that made everyone around them uncomfortable. God. That was exhausting to think about.

“Justin… give it back.” Tezca’s voice was in between that of a whining child and a disappointed parent. Like he was  _ trying  _ to be the adult and the voice of reason here but honestly just really wanted his dumb mask back. Giriko snorted and finally pushed past, ignoring the mirror’s stiff and upset body language. It was obvious that in the drama Tezca hadn’t noticed Giriko’s reappearance and now that he had he was trying to decide if his primary concern should be dealing with Justin or the enchanter. Rolling his eyes Giriko went to move Justin over and sit down himself.

Justin was pissed off enough right now that there was a good chance the kid would kick him in the face too. Luckily he didn’t, and instead shifted to make room for Giriko. It was a subtle proof of trust that stroked Giriko’s ego far too much,  _ especially  _ once he saw how it made the dumb bear bristle. Tezca was undoubtedly pissed off that he couldn’t do anything about Giriko getting so close. The petty, spiteful part of the enchanter, the part that was fueled by the fact that he was stuck here with these assholes, made him smile thinly and rest back on his arms. Letting one fall protectively behind Justin. It was a smug and over all rude thing to do, and there was actually a beat where Giriko, shamefully, was the slightest bit nervous Justin was going to catch and scold him.

Thankfully Justin didn’t seem to even really process Giriko was there at all. He was far too focused on keeping his horrible death glare trained firmly on Tezca. It was kind of scary how unwavering he was. Something must’ve really riled him up here. Which Giriko felt dumb for not realizing that before now. After all, Justin wasn’t really the type to lose his cool enough to rip someone’s head off. Giriko wasn’t dumb enough to insert himself into this by asking what had happened, but he also had to wonder what the hell they had to have been talking about to cause this. 

“No it’s mine now.” As if to reaffirm his point Justin wrapped his arms tighter around it and actually went so far as to wrap his legs around it as well, pretty much guaranteeing that any attempt at getting it back would end with a severed limb. Tezca wilted, obviously realizing that as well. There was absolutely no getting that mask back until Justin was unconscious, and even then it’d be a gamble. Justin definitely seemed pissed off enough about whatever caused this that if he woke up to see it missing he’d go hunt the bear down. 

“What are you even going to do with it?” Tezca’s voice sounded so scared, so distraught that Giriko actually groaned a bit. Risking garnering Justin’s angry attention to show how disgusted he was with this guy’s mask obsession. Again, Justin didn’t seem to even notice he was there. Which was… good. He didn’t want to be yelled at. But being ignored like this was making him start to feel the slightest bit dejected. Looking over to Justin he was surprised to see that the kid’s glare had actually faltered for a second. He obviously didn’t have any plans past getting the mask into his possession. Giriko watched as the brat stared blankly down at the head before coming up with an idea.

“This.” Justin squeezed it like a child being given a new toy. It’s eyes bugged out the top of Justin’s arms as the kid buried his face into the top of the fabric in a way that was probably meant to be mocking. The entire weird display made Giriko’s stomach feel weird. He was tempted to yank the thing out of Justin’s hands and throw it back at Tezca just so he wouldn’t have to keep looking at this. Tezca seemed to be having his own problems with it. He stumbled back in shock, his fingers twitching weirdly as he tried to decide if he should go over and try to take it from Justin or if he should just run away and try to deal with the fact that Justin  _ was  _ going to keep it. 

“You’re going to use my head as a pillow!? Justin-” Justin looked up with a horrible glare and Tezca jumped. Clearly horrified by this entire situation. Giriko had to admit he was starting to feel the same way. This was starting to feel more weird than funny. Part of him was wondering if he should try to convince the brat to drop it. He supposed it wasn’t too much of a problem… Not yet anyway. 

“It’s not your head.” Giriko would be inclined to agree with Justin about that in literally every situation but this one. Right now that was most certainly Tezca’s head in its own weird way. It was  _ symbolic  _ of Tezca’s head, so seeing the brat play with it, hold onto it like that… His mouth opened, ready to risk getting the brunt of Justin’s flaming hatred to say something. Tezca beat him to it.

“It is! That’s my head Justin!” Tezca hated Giriko, and Giriko hated Tezca. No one had ever left them alone in a room together because everyone knew there’d be bloodshed of some kind if they did. Giriko just couldn’t fucking stand the bastard, he couldn’t stand anyone in the DWMA but especially him. His stupid mask was only the tip of the iceberg, Giriko’s main beef with him was his damn  _ ‘I’m just trying to help’ _ attitude. He always acted like he was in the right, like he had done everything perfectly because he never thought to think about what shit was like under face value. It was infuriating and Giriko couldn’t stand it even second-hand. He hadn’t been alive for almost a millennium to sit around and watch some moron try to convince Justin that he knew what was best because of his oh-so  _ vast  _ life experience. 

_ However _ , Giriko had to try really hard not to laugh at that when Justin’s temper flared up in a way that made him look like a 10 year old boy being teased by his uncle. He supposed if there was anything good about Tezca it’d be this. It was funny just how much he could get Justin to lose his cool. This must be the result of years of practice, of pretty much raising the brat.

“No it's not!” Justin’s voice was firm, unrelenting. He was talking as if this was about something important instead of a fucking teddy bear mask. It made him look like an overdramatic dumbass, but it also made it very clear that he wasn’t going to go back on his word and hand the mask over. Tezca looked to be at a total loss of what to do. His hands were raised dramatically over his head and Giriko could tell even without seeing his face that the guy was sputtering for words. For how to deal with this situation. For any way to get his mask back. Giriko sighed.

“Do you really not have anything better to do? I think you know you're wasting your time here.” There was no way to see Tezca’s expression under his fucking nesting doll mask, but from the way he turned around and lost all his humorous over the top movements it was clear he was pissed. Giriko could only smile and let Justin scooch over closer to him for support. It was pretty obvious that Justin was more than happy with Giriko saying that, and he actually started to relax, his anger petering out ever so slightly with the idea of Tezca leaving. 

It was two against one now, Giriko wasn’t just an annoying spectator anymore and Tezca looked more than just sour about that. Giriko shrugged. He wasn’t exactly keen Justin on keeping the creepy thing either, but he also knew a lost cause when he saw one. Justin wasn’t going to give it back right now. He just wasn’t. The brat was fucking set on winning here and Tezca had to fucking know that. Giriko was just speeding the whole thing up. 

He was getting tired of watching this fight and really just wanted it to come to an end so he wouldn’t have to deal with the weirdness of it all anymore. Plus, if Tezca had half a brain he’d realize it’d be a lot easier to get his mask back after Justin cooled down a bit. Riling the kid up further and adding to the vendetta here was just going to keep pushing his reuniting with the piece of crap back. Giriko was  _ helping  _ him here, he should be fucking thankful. 

“I’ll be back later.” The way Tezca said it made him sound mostly civil, but there was an undeniable anger under it all. That and he pointed to Giriko instead of Justin, clearly more pissed off with the enchanter’s interference more than anything else. Giriko snorted watching the man disappear through the sliding door, slamming it with a loud clacking noise. For all the shit the other elites, including Justin, gave him about being dramatic they sure could be that way themselves.

Speaking of Justin, the kid had lost steam remarkably quick. What had started as moving close to Giriko for moral support had turned into straight up falling asleep on his shoulder. His eyes had fallen closed and his mouth was hung every so slightly open- it really looked like he was going to slide off Giriko any second and go crashing into the older man’s lap. It was fucking hilarious and it took everything Giriko had to not bust out laughing. 

He knew Justin was more than just sick, and that the other completely crashing like this was to be expected after an outburst like that, but it didn’t make it any less funny. There wasn’t anything on Earth  _ more  _ funny than the fact that the second Justin was able to move he had decided to take all of his very limited energy, the shit he was supposed to be using to heal, and rip off a man’s head. 

Brushing back a bit of Justin’s hair he tapped at the other’s face gently, trying to get him to wake up enough to respond. The slow tired reveal of blue was painfully beautiful up close like this and Giriko felt a sharp reject when his voice died in his throat and he had to try again to get his question out.

“You tired?” His voice was embarrassingly hoarse, but Justin seemed to out of it to comment or even notice his crumbling composure. So at least there was that. Justin sat up slightly, nodding and rubbing at one of his eyes in an attempt to wake himself back up. It wasn’t working. The brat was fucking swaying trying to stay upright and when Giriko heard the loud mechanical click of a medicine timer ending he realized that this wasn’t Justin being tired, this was a whole lot of strong shit messing him up. 

Things got substantially less funny with that and Giriko felt his stomach tug painfully. He had almost forgotten how bleak all of this was. With Justin acting so brightly, so alive, he had forgotten that the little shit wasn’t ready for that. He was still relying on medicine and machines to survive. He still couldn’t stay awake for more than an hour, still couldn’t control his own body. He wasn’t back to normal, even if it had felt like it in that short period of time.

“Does it hurt?” Justin nodded again and Giriko had to bite his lip to ignore the shattering of his heart. He swung one of his legs behind Justin onto the bed before moving them back and laying them down. Like this Justin was warm on his lap, his head tilting back onto Giriko’s shoulder as he let out heavy labored breaths. The pain coming off the kid was palpable and if weren’t for the fact that Giriko knew whatever they were pumping into the brat was keeping him alive he’d yank the stupid needle out with a vengeance. 

Nygus and everyone weren’t too keen on telling the ins and outs of whatever was happening and whatever they were trying to fix. He had only really heard ‘deep wounds’, ‘fatal infections’ and ‘onset starvation’. Which Giriko could sort of get a feel for, but knew jack shit about what went into fixing it or what it really did. One thing they did tell him though was that there was a button they could use if Justin was really suffering that’d release an extra dose of painkillers. This felt like as good a time as any to use it. 

The disappointment that Justin didn’t immediately perk up after he pressed it was heavy in his veins. He knew shit didn’t work that fast, but he wanted the brat’s pain gone  _ now _ . He didn’t want to keep watching him suffer like this. Turning his head to the side he sighed into Justin’s golden blonde hair and kissed at his cheek. The fact that Justin didn’t react hurt far worse than it should’ve. It was obvious that the scythe was trying to right himself through the haze of drugs and hadn’t even been able to process what had happened there. But still. It still hurt to be so blatantly ignored. It wasn't like he was blaming Justin anyway, his heart was just dying knowing how lost and far away the brat was right now.

Sighing Giriko shifted them a bit so he could pull Justin’s head back and meet their lips. The brat might not be able to understand it right now, but with how much the little shit loved kissing it’d probably make him feel better anyway. It’d make Giriko feel better at the very least. It’d remind him that as dead and gone as Justin seemed right now, he was still here, breathing and alive. 

Leaning down, he got a hair away from connecting before he froze up. Justin was still holding onto Tezca’s creepy fucking bear head. He was still holding onto it and it was fucking staring at Giriko from it’s place on the brat’s lap. Giriko felt as if he had been caught red handed. It’s googly eyes felt weirdly judging. The impromptu standoff was making him sweat. He had thought he could ignore it, but staring it down at it right now he was coming to the rapid conclusion that he needed to end this. 

“Justin, hey Justin.” Giriko moved to shake Justin’s shoulder gently, forcing the kid to jump to attention and remember where he was. From the way Justin looked around tiredly before tilting his head back to look up at Giriko in confusion, it was clear he was pretty upset about being woken up for seemingly nothing. Giriko would feel bad, but he was too busy maintaining eye contact with the mask. It needed to go, there was no way he was going to be able to just sit around knowing that thing was looking at him.

“Are you really going to keep that?” Finally ripping his gaze off the mask Giriko looked down at Justin, who looked the slightest bit pissed off. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the scythe’s grip tighten on the teddy bear head. A bad sign. 

“Why wouldn’t I?” Justin’s voice was sharp, or at least as sharp as he could get it while still waking up. Any hope of gently getting the brat to drop it was long gone, it was clear Justin was going to be just as stubborn about it with him as he had been with Tezca. Giriko could only roll his eyes in exhaustion. He seriously couldn’t understand Justin sometimes. There was a fucking million reasons not to keep it, starting with-

“It’s kinda been on that creep’s face for who knows how long.” Justin stared down at in surprise, like he hadn’t considered that yet. Giriko could decide if that made all of this less worrying or not. All of this was still too firmly stuck in the realm of horrifying for him to really rank shit anyway. Either way it was awful, there wasn’t really any ‘better’ choice here. When Justin looked back up at him with big curious eyes he felt himself jump a bit. 

“Is it making you uncomfortable?” There was something so unbelievable about the fact that Justin was genuinely asking. He wasn’t teasing or messing around, he was just looking up at Giriko waiting for some kind of explanation. There wasn’t even a hint of understanding behind his eyes, he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand this was creepy. Giriko couldn’t even start to process that, he just felt his blood get cold and goosebumps start to prick at his skin.

“I’m uncomfortable having your coworker’s fake head on top of us, yes.” Giriko’s voice was a weird mix between condescending and concerned. He wanted to be as much of a dick about this as possible. He was hoping that he’d manage to spark the weird angry part of Justin that’d make him stop at nothing to figure out what he was doing wrong, but he also couldn’t hide the part of him that was honest to god worried about this. 

Justin had gone back to twisting the thing around in his hands and examining it, looking for what was scary about it as if there was something he was wasn’t seeing. He looked determined to figure out what he was missing. All of this was just further hammering down how fucking scary Justin was. The kid wasn’t malicious doing this kinda shit, so that was something, but it also kind of made it worse. Giriko wasn’t sure if it was a lack of empathy or if it was Justin was really lost on item significance or what. 

He sort of got an answer to that as Justin spinned the thing lazily in his hands and moved to fucking  _ put it on _ . 

“Don’t you dare!” Grabbing the mask out of Justin’s hands Giriko held it out to the side, far out of the scythe’s reach. He was not going to see that today. He wasn’t ready to have nightmares about some kind of weird Justin-Tezca hybrid. Justin looked shocked, he spent a second staring at his hands before looking over to where Giriko was hanging it off his fingers. The brat made to grab at it for a second but thankfully stopped when the arm around his stomach tightened to hold him still.

“Why are you so scared of it Giriko?” The tired way Justin said it made it seem like he was pissed off, but there was also a hint of fascination under it all. Justin was acting like he had learned something new and shocking about Giriko, as if this was some weird uncommon fear he had. More than anything Giriko wanted to repeat  _ ‘you’re keeping Tezca’s head on your lap’ _ and try to shake it into the kid, but he also knew that wouldn’t work. It was fucking obvious at this point that Justin didn’t see the thing as anything more than a generic costume mask. There wasn’t going to be any easy way to have him realize it was more than that. 

“Why did you even take the thing Justin? I could understand burning it out of spite, but keeping it? What are you even doing?” At some point during that Justin had leaned his head back onto Giriko’s shoulder in what the enchanter could only assume was a pained exhaustion. There was a small second, a tiny glimmer of hope that the brat was getting hit with a second wave of side effects and would forget what was happening. Giriko felt the slightest bit bad that he was looking for Justin to get lost again, but the second he felt the scythe’s lips quirk into a horrific smile against his neck he decided that he didn’t care and that he wanted Justin asleep now. 

“I really just wanted to see his face, but when I saw he had another one I decided he wouldn’t miss it and that it’d piss him off to know I was keeping it.” Giriko rubbed his face in disbelief. There was so much wrong with that sentence, but the most glaring part was how stupid Justin was. Tezca wasn’t pissed off he was keeping it, he was flustered, because he, like a normal person, knew that Justin was trying to keep something that was representative of him. Seriously, there was no way Justin wasn’t thinking about the creep looking at it. There was no way, so how on earth was he ok with sleeping with it? Did he actually like the guy despite all his protests, or was he really so creepy as to keep something like this as a sadistic prize? Giriko got his answer far too quick.

“It’s like I won it, I was the first person to get it off of him so I get to keep it.” With that Justin sat up and reached over to where Giriko’s outstretched arm was holding the mask so suddenly that he managed to grab it back. Giriko didn’t bother to try and get it off of him again, but there was a moment of temptation to just throw it as far across the room as possible before the kid could get a proper hold on it. It wasn’t like the brat would be able to get up to go pick up being hooked up to everything as he was. He might not even have the strength to stand up at all. Which, honestly, was the only reason Giriko begrudgingly let Justin have it back without a fight. He had a bad feeling that Justin was stubborn enough to try to get up and get it anyway and it’d end in a stupid bloody mess. 

“So you’re keeping what is essentially the only face you know of this guy as a trophy.” There was a small, tiny sliver of Giriko that was hoping all of this was just because Justin was really high right now. That he was so fucked up on all the medicine they were pumping into him that he didn’t realize what he was doing. That if Giriko explained it to him point blank like this that the brat would figure it out and get rid of the thing. 

“Yeah.” There was no hesitation with that. Justin confirmed immediately, showing no sign that he realized how messed up that sounded. Fuck. This wasn’t a being high thing. This really was some kind of weird fundamental misunderstanding the brat had. There wasn’t anything that could be done here, was there? It was just Justin’s now. He clearly wasn’t going to be convinced into dropping it. Looking down at it again Giriko shivered. It was so creepy. As much as he hated seeing the stupid mask on Tezca seeing it off of him was so much worse. It felt like he was watching Justin play with a severed head.

“You’re fucking horrifying.” Justin didn’t even blink at Giriko’s comment, rather because he was used to being told that or because he wasn’t listening anymore. Both were equally likely. Sighing in defeat Giriko wrapped his arms around the brat’s waist and pulled him up from the slouch he had fallen into so he could rest his head atop the other’s blonde hair. He was exhausted with all of this. He tried to close his eyes and ignore the plush bear mask that Justin was  _ still  _ messing with like a stuffed animal. It wasn’t really working. He could feel it's unblinking eyes boring into him. 

“It kind of smells weird though… see?” There was something so weird and unexpected about that comment that Giriko didn’t even process it until he opened his eyes to see Tezca’s dumb bear face inches from his own. He flew back, his hand slapping the head away in a panic. Justin made a noise as it was knocked out of his hands, but it was hard to hear it over Giriko’s scream. 

“I’m not going to smell your friend’s head! Get that away from me you freak! Goddammit Justin!” The mask rolled to their feet and Giriko could feel it touching his foot through the covers. A shiver went up his spine. Awful. He kicked it away, completely ignoring Justin’s sad, annoyed whine when the head fell off onto the floor. He was too busy being glad it was gone, or at least out of eye sight. All of this was seriously starting to activate his fight or flight response. It was making his skin crawl.

Justin shifted slightly, making a move to get up to get it. Giriko tightened his grip. Not only was it a bad idea to let the wounded scythe get up right now, but he was also not willing to let Justin pick that up. They were done with that. He was done with that. He had reached his limit with Justin’s craziness and bear heads in what felt like hours ago. He was never going to be able to look Tezca in the eye anymore. Not when all he’d be able to think about was Justin carrying his head around like a toy. 

“You really are scared of it huh?” Justin said it like Giriko was the ridiculous one here. Like he wasn’t being horrific right now. Giriko was seriously tempted to correct the other and tell him that  _ ‘no i’m scared of you’ _ , but he also knew that was a bad idea. It just make Justin angry or sad or both. Which was the last thing this situation needed. Giriko sighed. 

“If I say that I am will you just get rid of it?” They stared at each other for a bit after that. Justin’s eyes were blank, processing. He was giving one final, honest attempt to try and understand what was going on. Giriko could only hope he’d figure it out in that messed up head of his. 

“No.” Immediately Justin tried to stand up again and Giriko had to tighten his grip painfully and lean over to try and trap the brat under him. What a piece of shit Justin was. Not only that, a fucking dumbass. He was still struggling even he had to know full well getting up could fucking kill him. Well, maybe not kill him but really fuck things up. Justin started to slip out of his grasp and he had to bend further, bringing his knees up and completely caging the brat, save for his gangly limbs. 

“Justin you can’t get up right now, you fucking know that.” Neither of them couldn’t really see the other in this awkward position, but they didn’t need to to know they were glaring daggers at each other. There was a weird kind of hatred in the air, a subdued kind that came from hating the fact that you were so in love with someone so fucking annoying. They were both radiating that feeling, and that just made it worse. Neither of them were willing to accept that they were annoying one here. 

“Then get it for me.” Justin’s voice was muffled in the covers, he was clearing eating the fluff trying to talk right now. Giriko hadn’t intended to push him down that far but he didn’t regret it either. The other should’ve been less of a pest trying to kill himself like that. 

“Weren’t you about to fall asleep before this? How are you still up?” Justin was trying to get up again, not to get out of bed this time, just to get out from under Giriko. Giriko didn’t let him, he pushed down further and glared into the plastic end of the bed with a fury, pretending it would somehow be seen by Justin. He was too pissed to let Justin up yet. He was definitely hoping Justin would somehow fall asleep or pass out down there so this entire mess could end without any further bullshit. Justin seemed to realize his plans. He seemed to know he wasn’t going to get out of there unless he did something. Giriko felt his mouth go dry as he watched the brat’s still free arms slap around for a bit. He had a bad feeling that he knew what Justin was planning, but he didn’t have anyway to stop it without letting go. Justin managed to bend his arms up and grab at the enchanter’s hair with an intent to forcibly rip Giriko off of him. 

“Justin! Cut it out! Just fucking stop for a minute!” Who on Earth gave the brat limbs like this? Why couldn’t he be consistently tiny all around and not be able to attack while also being crushed? Trying to swat Justin’s hands away while also not letting go Giriko and Justin both froze solid when one of the brat’s fingers caught in one of the hoops in Giriko’s ear. It didn’t get torn out, but it got dangerously close. 

Justin wasn’t moving anymore, thankfully concerned enough about Giriko’s well being to not brutally yank out a piercing, but he was still stuck. He couldn’t get his finger out from where it was caught blind like this. They both knew Giriko was going to have to do it, but he was a fair bit blind too with it being his ear and all. Reaching up carefully, he grabbed onto Justin’s small hand and tried to untangle it. Justin’s fingers were completely limp, letting him do whatever to try and separate them. Giriko was sweating a bit trying to slide the brat’s pinky finger out from the top most ring in his ear. It was far harder than it should’ve been, he kept needing to readjust his grip on the other’s hand to try and slip them apart.

When he finally did Justin intertwined their hands with a death grip and Giriko flew up, trying to get far away from anything that could throw them back into that dangerous situation. With their hands still connected as they were it kind of sent Justin flying back with him. Grunting at the impact of the brat falling into him he let out a tired humored laugh. This was ridiculous. Justin looked back up at him with confused eyes, it looked like he was in the slightest bit of pain from all of that, but more than anything he just looked worried about Giriko. Giriko refused to acknowledge how his heart squeezed with that, or how his fingers involuntarily closed around Justin’s own. 

“Are you ok?” It was funny how concerned Justin was after literally trying to tear his hair out, but Giriko wasn’t going to question it or point it out. He didn’t want to do anything to piss Justin off now that the kid was calming down and forgetting about the head that was still very much on the floor. This was a fucking ray of hope. There was a real chance that Justin was going to go to sleep and not insist on holding onto the thing like that was something he’d been doing his whole life. 

“Well you just narrowly avoided covering both of us in blood and ripping my fucking ear in half, but yeah I guess.” Justin looked annoyed for a second, pissed off and ready to call Giriko out for being overdramatic, but then he sagged. Giriko could only watch as the kid slouched back down into the covers sadly and moved to untwine their hands. It was clear he had found it in himself to feel guilty, which honestly should’ve come long before all of this, but Giriko couldn’t help but feel his heart fall a bit. He grabbed back onto Justin’s hand before the brat could completely slip out of his grasp and slid down with the other so he- no, so Justin could still hold onto him. He wasn’t the one that wanted to keep their warm contact, he just knew Justin would. 

He kept telling himself that as the silence stretched on. As Justin fell asleep and he was left alone with the beeping of the heart monitor again. 

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this in my open tabs for at least a month and I just had to get it out of my life. This was seriously such a pain in the ass to write omg.   
Anyway this from a long AU of mine where Justin and Giriko both got captured by the DWMA after the scenes where they 'died', the actual whole fic this is from is really so grounded in medical treatments that it'd be boring to read aha. Giriko mostly recovered before Justin got captured which is why he's fine here :V There's ur missing context if you found urself wondering what the fuck.   
Also I'm sorry for the whiplash tone shifts I... I had such a hard time with this fic I can't do it anymore I can't keep trying to fix it it'd kill me.


End file.
